113th CBC Alaska Regional Summary

By R.L. (Buzz) Scher

The 113 Christmas Bird Counts season saw 38 counts completed in the Alaska Region (consistent with the past 5-year average) which involved a record 1091 participants (806 in the field) who found 143 species (consistent with the past 5-year average), plus eight others during the count week periods, and tallied 132,311 individual birds (slightly above the past 5-year average). In this year’s battles for bragging rights, Ketchikan edged out Kodiak for the most species, 79 versus 76 (both tied at 86 when adding count week birds); Anchorage edged Juneau for the most individual birds tallied, 13,462 versus 12,183; and Anchorage destroyed their own (and the Region’s) record for most total participants with 208 (Fairbanks was a distant second with 110). This year’s Frustration Awards went to Glacier Bay with 13 count week species (honorable mention to Juneau and Kodiak each with 10 count week species); and Anchorage which for the second year in a row spotted their wintering Dusky Thrush only during the count week.

New for the Region’s CBCs were exceptionally well documented Black Guillemot (a very remarkable record to say the least), Palm Warbler, and count week Western Gull all at Ketchikan. As a side, there have now been five species of warbler recorded on the Alaska CBCs, four each in the southeast and southcoastal subregions of the state.

Looking at the Region in parts sharing somewhat similar winter climate and geographic environments, 114 species and 55,665 individual birds were recorded on the 12 counts completed in southeast Alaska. New subregion high counts were set for Mallard with 4868 at Juneau, and House Sparrow with 12 at Ketchikan. A single House Sparrow was also recorded at Mitkof Island; the first CBC record of that species away from Ketchikan. And somewhat confusing were reports of Dunlin and Rock Sandpipers, where away from their primary concentrations at Glacier Bay and Juneau, the other counts tended to report only one or the other, and in numbers often contrary to their past count data – go figure.

In southcoastal Alaska, 109 species and 50,962 individual birds were recorded on nine counts. New subregion high counts were set for Emperor Goose with 665 at Kodiak; Barrow’s Goldeneye with 480 at Seward; Eurasian Collared-Dove with three at Cordova (3^rd year in a row, and the only count away from the southeast area of the state to record that species); Great Horned Owl with six at Homer; and Chestnut-backed Chickadee with 148 at Cordova.

For the southwest area, 58 species and 12,509 individual birds were recorded on four counts. New to the subregion was a White-throated Sparrow at King Salmon-Naknek. New subregion high counts were set for three species, all at Unalaska, including 1275 Harlequin Ducks, 315 Mew Gulls, and two American Tree Sparrows. At the opposite end, 26 Steller’s Eiders at Izembek N.W.R. seemed an exceptionally low count.

And 34 species and 13,175 individual birds were recorded on the 13 counts completed across the very cold (high of -39 °F at Tok) interior, western and northern sections of the state. A Song Sparrow at Fairbanks was new for this vast subregion, where a new high count was also set for Barrow’s Goldeneye with 18. Also of note was a Red-breasted Nuthatch found at Shageluk, in western Alaska – CBC data suggests this species’ winter range has been expanding westerly and northerly from the southcoastal area since the late 1980s.

I made two changes to the entered count data. First, Winter Wren has not yet to be verified in Alaska; I am not even sure it has been suspected. Therefore, I changed the data for the several counts that reported “Winter” or “Winter/Pacific” Wren to Pacific Wren. [Note to Audubon – the historic count data for Alaska should also be so modified to reflect this recent species change]. Second, I deleted Cedar Waxwing from the Anchorage count, as it is an exceptionally rare visitor there but no details were provided.

Now the ‘soap box’ portion of my annual review. When it comes to rare or otherwise unusual species, I do not consider the regional editor’s review as a proxy for a regional records committee – rather it is each compiler’s responsibility to assure identification of rare or unusual sightings are valid. As such, I simply look for some form of documentation (e.g. photograph, field notes, a mention from the compiler, etc.) that indicates the compiler recognized the significance of the sighting, and verified to their satisfaction that the identification was correct and conclusive. In that regard, kudos to the compilers who understand the value – beyond simply that for CBCs – of compiling and submitting documentation for the rare or otherwise unusual species reported under their watch. In particular I wanted to acknowledge the count organizers at Bethel, Glacier Bay, Ketchikan, Kodiak, and Unalaska for their consistent efforts these past years to provide field notes and photographs. On the other hand, no less than 12 counts (7 in the southeast subregion alone) recorded new count or rare species for the region but did not provide any information which indicated that the compiler was even aware of relevance of the sighting – although I am sure this is an issue not unique to the Alaska Region.